HOLYOKE – New School Superintendent David L. Dupont will suggest a resolution to a long-standing problem by asking that officials move the School Department to the City Hall Annex.

The move would keep the School Department downtown, which city councilors and others say is important to ensure government offices are centrally located.

It also would end the School Department’s $400,000-a-year lease of offices at 57 Suffolk St. many have criticized for years. Late Councilor Richard M. Welch used to deride that as a “Taj Mahal” expense.

Dupont said he realized the idea prompts another problem about where to put the offices that now occupy the annex, but he said last week it makes sense to move the school central office adjacent to City Hall on High Street.

It would be two to three years before the School Department is capable of such a move, he said.

“If I had my way, I would hope to stay here maybe a couple years – remember, if I had my way – with the hope of moving into the annex. It’s still downtown,” Dupont said.

About 80 administrators, clerks and other employees work in the current school offices, so the School Department would need to occupy all four floors of the annex, he said.

“We would have to take the building, if you look at it,” Dupont said.

Dupont is a 38-year veteran of the Holyoke school system. He took over as superintendent on July 1 with the retirement of former Superintendent Eduardo B. Carballo.

Dupont said he will suggest the annex option in a meeting later this month with Mayor Elaine A. Pluta and other officials.

Pluta said putting the School Department in the annex intrigues her. “That’s an interesting proposal. I’ll have to think about that,” Pluta said.

City Council President Joseph M. McGiverin said moving a municipal department from one spot to another requires approval of the mayor and, in this case, the School Committee. Council approval undoubtedly would be needed to appropriate money for moving and renovations, he said.

Among departments in the annex are the city auditor, Board of Health, Retirement Board, Office of Community Development, Law Department and Conservation Commission.

Putting school offices in the annex might be less complicated than it appears. City Hall has unused space that could be occupied by dislodged annex staff. And not all offices currently in City Hall get the foot traffic that requires they be in that building, McGiverin said.

Councilor-at-large James M. Leahy verbally sparred with Carballo over lack of a decision about school offices. Leahy said he would consider the annex for school offices, but also suggested the space in the War Memorial, 310 Appleton St., that the Council on Aging will vacate when a new senior center opens in 2011.